About New York; How Do You Get To the Subways? Practice, Practice

By WILLIAM E. GEIST

Published: May 27, 1987

There is often a man on board the F train who plays the saxophone so atrociously - almost cruelly, really - that riders pay the man (who incidentally says he hails from Mars) to stop.

There is a violinist, James Graseck, who plays the G Minor Fugue by Bach so beautifully at the 53d Street and Lexington Avenue station that riders miss train after train.

Fans of a jazz and blues group called Chicken Wings pay the subway fare just to come into the stations to hear the six-member combo.

Yesterday the Metropolitan Transportation Authority held auditions for musicians who want to play in the subway, in effect institutionalizing the longstanding custom of musicians playing in the New York subway system. For one thing, the M.T.A. hopes to raise the performance level, although officials are certain that many unsanctioned musicians such as the man from Mars will continue to play.

''Auditioning to play in the subways!'' laughed Alvin Slythe, waiting to audition with his trio. ''Ain't New York something?''

''There are so many great musicians in New York,'' he said, ''that instead of competing for club dates and concert halls, they're fighting for good street corners and subway spots.''

''The talent pool is phenomenal,'' said Bob Rogers, shaking his head. He is in charge of this new Music Under New York program (there was a pilot program eariler) and listened to about 63 acts yesterday at Symphony Space, a performing arts center at 95th Street and Broadway, where a similar number will audition in June. $ ? * * *

The musicians included one man playing the ''cajun cello'' (which he made out of boxes), another playing the bagpipes and the jew's harp and another playing keyboard and trumpet at the same time. Mr. Graseck, a Juilliard graduate, auditioned, too, playing some Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov and Sarasate. He was preceded by a blues trio consisting of two guitarists in bib overalls and a woman in a tambourine-equipped wheelchair.

The sanctioned musicians will play at 20 subway stations.

They will be unpaid by the M.T.A., but they may keep all donations.

Veteran subway musicians in line for audtions yesterday noted that there are many side benefits, such as meeting people who are looking for musicians to play for their parties, and sometimes producers, composers and other talent scouts. ''I was booked for two Off Broadway plays by passers-by,'' said Valerie Naranjo, a marimba player.

''And it can be so much fun!'' said Carey Monet Johnson, who plays the keyboard at Grand Central Terminal. ''People come up and sing with me. Tourists take my picture. And people dance, even the fox trot, right there in the subway.

''The people get involved listening to the music,'' he said, ''and then they all run for their train at the same time, which makes the transit police come running to see if someone is hurt or something. They figure it was something bad happening again, but I tell them, no, something good.''

''You gotta be good to make New Yorkers stop on their way to a train - or to anything,'' said Bob DeMeo, drummer of Chicken Wings.

''The subway is not a bad gig,'' said Alex Lodico, leader of that group. ''We even make more money in some stations than we do in a club. We can make as much as $20 apiece in an hour, which is what some clubs pay us for doing three sets.''

''The acoustics can be pretty good down there,'' Mr. Lodico continued, ''except when trains are coming in. It doesn't rain on you. The subway is a step up from the street.'' * * *

Many of the musicians said that, oddly enough, they have come to enjoy playing in the streets and subway stations more than in clubs or concert halls. ''In concert halls people are too critical and analytical to enjoy themselves,'' said Roy Campbell, who plays trumpet and fluegelhorn in Chicken Wings.

''I played an individual concert at Alice Tully Hall that was reviewed in The New York Times,'' said Mr. Graseck, ''but in the subways the audiences are always very surprised and delighted and appreciative. The nice thing is that you can count on delays, which makes for large, captive audiences.''

''When I tell my parents I'm playing in the subways, they think I'm nuts,'' said Ms. Naranjo, from Colorado, who holds a master's degree in music and plays a 7-foot long, 145-pound marimba. She has difficulty catching cabs, as well as difficulty carrying the instrument up and down the stairs of subway stations. But, then, some piano players asked for auditions, too.

Surprisingly, none of the musicians had any tales of woe to tell about playing in the subways - no muggings, no robberies, nothing. ''I think the music really does soothe people,'' said Mr. DeMeo, the Chicken Wings drummer.

''This is all aimed, of course,'' Mr. Rogers said, ''at making riders think the M.T.A. is terrific.''

Hearing that, one musician remarked, ''I'm a mus-ician, not a ma-gician.''